By: Dana
Summary: From one season to another, and how things change.
Characters: Diamond of Long Cleeve, others
Pairings: Fatty/Diamond implied, Estella/Diamond
Rating: PG
Warnings: Het implied, femslash, angst
Author's Notes: For Jen. With my love. ♥
dreamflower, thanks for the beta read, my dear!
Series Index: Roads Go On and Years Go By.
Disclaimer: The author makes no claim to owning the rights of anything to do with J.R.R. Tolkien or New Line Cinema. Any and all characters and situations that have been borrowed are for the author's personal use only, and for the entertainment of others.

Winter 1418

There are riders from the south at some time just prior to Yule – tall Men, on large horses, with grim faces and dark grins, and all bearing long sharp swords at their sides. She remembers her father having gone out, with her three brothers and her four uncles, and though they'd all stood tall as they could manage, they'd been nothing but children standing at their elder's feet. Had they been frightened? She had, if only because of what they'd all heard, and the Men that had been seen about – but they'd not come so close, though winter's come and it's been bitter, cold… What did they want? What could they want? No, Tolly'd not been frightened, but he'd been angry, instead…

When they're gone, the stores have had an unfair share taken from, and her mother's left wondering how the smials will be fed through the winter – with months to go – and Tolly, who is the eldest of her three brothers, is determined on riding south, and looking into all this wrong that's been going on. There's less sense than there ought to be, in his head, and she's lost her sense too, thinking that his reasoning is sound.

Spring 1419

He says his name is Freddy, and only then does she give her own name in return. 'Diamond,' she says, with a pleasant smile – mostly because his own smile is a welcome sight, when the spring air tastes too much of winter and she's sad, too worried, and wondering when and if ever word from her brother will come. She wonders what's brought him here – no one rides out this far north. Nothing of much consequence, he says, and then his smile seems tired, worn, and if her name is Diamond, really, then he has something for her. He brings out something from the inner pocket of his old coat, something long and flat and – oh. She laughs.

'So. Are you with the post?'

'Ah, not quite. But I was riding this way, a very round-about way back home. Still, this letter,' and he waves it, 'if you are Diamond, Diamond of Long Cleeve, is most certainly for you.'

She wonders at it – word from her brother, perhaps, and she'll take it, of course.

'Might I have it, please?'

'For a kiss, perhaps,' and he laughs. 'But a home-cooked meal is more likely, I should think.'

Summer 1419

Her name is Estella, and her hair is dark and her eyes are bold, and Diamond remembers how Freddy had made her promise that she would look after her, for all Estella had years on her own. But she did promise, and Freddy had smiled and then pressed his lips, lightly, against her hand. 'Thank you,' he'd whispered. 'And maybe, just maybe, I'll one day have that proper kiss.'

She hadn't laughed, and her smile seemed forced, and Estella would spend her days looking south, knowing that her brother had gone beyond her reach. And Diamond understands that, as Tolly's been gone and with Freddy gone, too, there'd been no other word – though, she hadn't ever had the urge to follow along.

And she tells Estella, one day, 'I did make a promise,' and she whispers that against Estella's cheek – that there are times where they are meant to do as they'd rather not do, though she has been happy with her waiting, all the same.

And Estella, with Freddy's bold eyes and a long, rough scar, up high on her hip, takes Diamond's word as if a thing of great value, and then takes Freddy's proper kiss, and more.

Autumn 1419

There are riders from the south at some time far prior to Yule – hobbits, from the look of them, and it's been ages since they'd had word – well, that they had heard good news at all. She remembers Estella walking out, as if seeing something that she couldn't, but not the sort of thing that you could see with two eyes – Estella, who's been restless and has taken to wandering the halls of North Tunnels, wondering at the state of things, further south. Estella, who's honoured Freddy's words and the promise that she'd made, though Diamond knew she chafed at that restriction.

A flash of gold and a tight smile on thin lips, and Estella touches Diamond's arm and then runs down from the great doors, and Diamond runs after. So Diamond is there when Estella hears of her brother, when a hobbit in strange, shining garb lets Estella sit before him on his too-large pony. When Peregrin Took reintroduces himself, and, before they all leave, Diamond invites them all back.

But Tolly never does make it home, and there isn't any body, and while their mother doesn't give up her hope, Diamond believes, no, knows, that her brother's gone.